The life cycle of a teacher is identified as follows:

Pride

• Begins before stepping into the classroom, as early as acceptance of a contract, and ends in the first 10 seconds of your first class
• Period of intense growth and high enthusiasm; can be tiring
• Most “fun” stage
• High uncertainty, vague sense of possibility, a lot of pride
• Conversations revolve around your choice to become a teacher, views and opinions on assessment, rewarding “aha!” moments

Survival

• Settling in period; quick changes
• Every bit of theory is morphing into applied theory and practice
• Reptilian brain responses: fight or flight
• Training and theory and enthusiasm sustain you
• Characterized not so much by the chaos of teaching but by your response to the chaos
• Teaching during this stage is not miserable, but can be stressful and exhausting

Experimentation

• All about informed precise and effective experimentation with past knowledge and experience
• You bring in new tools and instructional strategies with something more than hope; the best teachers never stop doing this
• Less time wasted as you are evolving your craft
• Experimentation leads to expanded professional learning networks in discovering new tools, ideas and mentoring from peers
• Also a “fun” stage

Disillusionment

• You possess a better understanding of people, teaching, culture, communities, technology—you have grown as a human being
• You also notice the negative impact of politics or personal agendas on peers and students
• Money wasted on technology that is inappropriate for the situation
• Impersonal professional development
• You have unanswered questions—many unanswered questions
• Tough psychological circumstances
• Teaching feels unfulfilling, confusing or even wrong for the idealistic and macro-thinkers

Rebellion

• Characterized by change
• Great teachers don’t do what they are told
• You agitate, you ask questions
• You create light and model the same for students; the foundation of critical pedagogy
• There is no conclusion: constant interaction with changing circumstances and new knowledge that allows for a broader vision, which allows for new evidence—process starts over again
• Critical thinking core is raw emotion and tone—first cause for change
• Critical-thinking conditions the mind to suspect the form and function of everything it sees—including your classroom and everything being taught in it
• Teaching can be more “fun” once again
• You are strangely empowered to not make a mess but to make a difference (but if you do make a mess, you know how not to get fired)

Ongoing Mastery

• Ah, wisdom!
• The work to master your craft involves 10,000 hours to become an expert—not in teaching, but in change
• Teaching is not about you—never was
• You see everything from above and through everything, which helps you to embrace, evade, plan, design, question and celebrate
• Connect and work some more
• Very fulfilling stage, allowing you to change the world one mind at a time
• Not just about perseverance and showing up but also about luck—meeting the right mentor, principal, professional learning network, school, district, years of good health
• All matter every bit as much as your knowledge of pedagogy and your personal convictions
• If you make it this far, congratulations! Education is going to need you!